Trailer support



Nov. 24, 3.,

E. F. -mwrwxcw TRAILER SUPPORT Filed Sept 10, 192:5

3 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR.

7 ATTORNEY.

Nov. 24, 1925.

E. F. HARTWiCK TRAILER SUPPORT Filed Sept. 10, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Nov. 24, 19.2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST F. nAarwrck, or DETROIT, rronroam Assren on TO DE T TRAILER ooMran'Y. or nn'rnoi'r, later-imam, A oonrona'rron or MICHIGAN.

TRAILER SUPPORT.

Application filed September 10, 1923. Serial N0. 661,745.

To all whom. it may concern.

Be it known that I, Ennns'r F. Hnirrwron, a citizen of the United States. and residing at Detroit, in the county of lYayne and t tate at Michigan. have invented a. new and improved 'lirailer Support. 01 which the 't'ollowinp; is a specification.

T his invention relates to legs for supporting: the trout ends of two-wheeled trailers when they are disconnected from their tractors. and its object is to provide simple and reliable means for swinging such" legs up toward the chassis or 'iramc of the trailer and tor holding them in such elevated position.

This inre ition consists. with a pair of pivoted siu porting legstor the "front end ot a trailer, :1 slidable carriage and guides therefor. and links connecting the legs and carriage, of operating means tor said carriage con'iprising a driven pulley. 1 link connected to the carriage and a flexi- 2 his connection between the link and pulley.

It further consists in a pulley for actuating said carriage and link provided with a notch to receive the end of the link opposite the carriage to hold the link and carriage in position to keep the legs elevated.

It also consists in the details of construc tion illustrated in the accompanying drawand particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, F 1 is a side elevation of a two-wheel trailer having its tront end held up by my improved sruiport. Fin. 2 is a side elevation of this support and its operating mechanism on a hzrn'cr scale. Fig. 3 is a plan thereof. 4t is a plan of the rear end 01? the main link. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the support in pcratire position. Figs. 6 and 7 are sections on the lines 66 and 77 of Fig. 5.

Similar reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views.

The trailer 1 and its rear wheels 2 and titth wheel 3 are of any desired constructi on. Brackets 41 attached to the side bars 5 of the truck chassis support pivots 6 for the legs T which are provided with adjustable feet 8. These legs are preferably connected by a brace 9 (Fig. 3) and connect by means of links l t to a slidable block or carriage 10 which is guided by the channel bars 11 \'-."hich are part oi the chassis. This carriage in combination embodies a lug 12 and a pin 13 on which the links 14 are mounted.

On the front end 01" this carriage 10 is a lug 16 which carries a pin 17 which extends through the eyes 18 and 19 at the rear end of the bifurcated mainlink 20. The eye 18 is split so it may be clamped onto this pin 17 by means of a bolt 21. i

A frame 23 is attached to one of the channel bars 11 (Fig. 6) and embodies a bearing 24; for the short shaft 25 and also embodies a cover 26 which encloses the worm wheel 27 n'iounted on this shaft and the worm 28 meshing therewith. This worm is on the counter-shaft 29 which" has a bevel gear 30 on its forward end meshing with a bevel gear 31 on the cross shaft 32 which may be turned by a crank 33 shown in Fig. 1. A rope pulley 334i. is secured on the inner end oi the shaft 25.

' The main link 20 embodies a fiat bottom so adapted to ride on the face of this pulley 3- between the flanges 37 thereon and the bottom of this link and the face of this sheave are each formed with two grooves to receive the flexible connectors 88 and 39, both preferably of wire cables. The sheave is formed with a pocket 150, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5', to receive'the front end of the link 20 when that is in its rear position, as shown in Fig. 2.

The cable 39 has one end secured to the web 13 of the pulley 34, passes out through a hole in the rim of the pulley, then along the bottom of the link 20.11 3 around over its bolts and nuts 45, as: shown in Fig. 7. similar bolts being employed to secure the opposite end to the pulley 34. The cable 38 has one end attached to the opposite side 01 the web of thepu'lley, passes out through a hole in the rim thereof, thence around the rim and then around over the rear end of the link 20. being secured to the link and the pulley by similar bolts 1st. The circumferential distance from the point where the cable 38 passes through the rim of the 13111- ley to a vertical plane passing through the shaft 25 equals the distance from this plane to a transverse vertical plane pass ingthrough theakis of curvature of the rounded front end of the link 22.

\Vhen the shaft 32 is turned to turn the pulley 34; clockwise or to the right in Fig.

front end and is attached thereto by 5, the cable 39 will be wound onto the pulley and the cable 38 unwound, causing the link 20, the carriage 10 and the links 14. to move rearward, to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. l and in solid lines in This carries the front end of the line- 2O beyond the shaft 215 until it rests in the recess in the rim of the pulley 3- and is carried down thereby until a pro ection or lug 1-7 atone side of the front end of this link rests on a bracket 4E8 on 3. This bracket is so positioned the frame that the lug 47 is below a line connecting the centers of the shaft 25 and the pivot 17 e that the forward thrust of the carriage 10 because of the weight of the legs 7 will have no tendency to turn back the pulley 34. In fact, considerable force must be exerted by the crank 88 on the pulley 36L before this forward end of the link 20 can be lifted so that the link may move forward. 'lhis forward movement is caused by the weight of the legs 7 but permitted by the rotation of the pulley 3d and of he shaft In rotating, the pulley Winds up the cable 38 and unwinds the cable 39.

Attention is called to the fact that this device is self-locking when the legs are elevated and that the movement is limited by the bracket 4-8 and lug d7. The device requires but little attention as the case for the worm and worm gear may be filled with grease and an occasional application of grease to the other contacting parts is sufficient. All of the parts can be made of ample size as there is sufficient space therefor.

The details of construction and the proportions of the parts may all be changed by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of my invention as set forth in the following claims.

I claim 1. In a trailer support, the combination of a pair of legs pivoted at their upper ends so as to be adapted to swing up towards the frame of the trailer, a carriage slidable long'itndinally of the trailer and guides therefor, means connecting the legs to the car. riage, a shaft extending; transversely of the trailer and means to rotate the shaft in either direction, a pulley on the shaft, a link connecting to the carriage and resting on the pulley, and a flexible connection between the pulley and link.

2. In a trailer support, the combination of a pair of legs pivoted at their upper ends so as to be adapted to swing up towards the frame of the trailer, a carriage. slidable longitudinally of the trailer and guides therefor, means connecting the legs to the carriage, a shaft extending transversely of the trailer and means to rotate the shaft in either direction, a pulley on the shaft, a link connecting to the carriage and resting on the pulley, and a flexible connection between the pulley and link, said link and pulley having grooves in their adjacent faces to receive said flexible connection.

In a trailer support, the combination of a pair of legs pivot-ed at their upper ends so as to be adapted to swing up towards the frame of the trailer, a carriage slidable longitudinally of the trailer and guides therefor, means connecting the legs to the carriage, a shaft extending transversely of the trailer and means to rotate the shaft in either direction, a pulley on the shaft, a link connecting to the carriage and resting on the pulley, and a pair of flexible connectors between the pulley and link and extending from opposite ends of the link along one side thereof to said pulley, one of said connectors winding onto the pulley as the other unwinds.

4-. In a trailer support, the combination of a pair of legs pivoted at their upper ends so as to be adapted to swing up towards the frame of the trailer, a carriage slidable lon gitudinally of the trailer and guides there for, means connecting the legs to the carriage, a shaft extending transversely of the trailer and means to rotate the shaft in either direction, a. pulley on the shaft, a link connecting to the carriage and resting on the pulley, and a pair of flexible connectors between the pulley and link and extending from opposite ends of the link along one side thereof to said pulley, one of said connectors winding onto the pulley as the other unwinds, said pulley and the adjacent side of the link being grooved to receive said connectors.

5. In a trailer support, the combination of a pair of legs pivoted at their upper ends so as to be adapted to swing up towards the frame of the trailer, a carriage slidable longitudinally of the trailer and guides therefor, means connecting the legs to the can riage, a shaft extending transversely of the trailer and means to rotate the shaftin either direction, a pulley on the shaft, a link connecting to the carriage and resting on the pulley, and a pair of flexible connectors be tween the pulley and link and extending from opposite ends of the link along one side thereof to said pulley, one of said connectors winding onto the pulley as the other nnwinds, said pulleybeing provided with a recess to receive the forward end of said link when said legs are elevated to hold said legs in their elevated position.

i 6. In a trailer, a frame, a support pivoted at its upper end directly on the frame so as to be adapted to swing up toward the frame of the trailer, a carriage movable longitulinally of the trailer, means connecting the support to the carriage, a shaft, and means embodying a flexible connector and a pulley on theshaftto receive the connector to move the carriage back and forth.

ERNEST F. HARTIVICK. 

